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Martin Jol contract extended

Fulham have activated the one-year option on Martin Jol's contract and the manager is set to remain in charge for next season.

There has been confusion in some quarters about Jol's future, principally because he has not signed any paperwork on the option, which was bolted on to the two-year deal that he agreed when he took over at Craven Cottage in June 2011.

But as the option is on Fulham's side, there is nothing for Jol to sign. The club informed him last October that they wanted for him to stay for the extra year and they have continued to plan with him.

Fulham have made no announcement regarding the option on Jol and nor do they intend to, as they feel that there is no need for any fanfare.

Jol has guided the club to 10th place and within touching distance of Premier League safety, despite losing two of his key players, Mousa Dembélé and Clint Dempsey, in the final days of the summer transfer window for a combined £21m to Tottenham Hotspur.

He reinvested a total of £9m in fees on Dimitar Berbatov, Ashkan Dejagah and Kieran Richardson while in January, he made four loan additions until the end of the season - Emmanuel Frimpong, Urby Emanuelson, Eyong Enoh and Stanislav Manolev. Jol is £13m in credit, according to transfermarkt.co.uk on his dealings at Craven Cottage, in terms of fees.

The club's priority is to tie down the goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer and the defender Brede Hangeland to new deals - the pair are out of contract at the end of the season - and, also, to take up the one-year option that they hold on the defender Sascha Riether, who signed last July for one year. A host of other players' deals expire in the summer, including Mladen Petric, Mahamadou Diarra, Giorgos Karagounis, Chris Baird and Simon Davies.

Fulham's morale was boosted by Sunday's 1-0 win at Tottenham, which took them to 36 points with nine matches to play. Jol finished his first season at the club in ninth place and with 52 points.